


The perks of skipping practise (the coach would like to disagree)

by Yestoertchen



Series: I'm not your gay Yoda, Stiles [1]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: M/M, Pre-Slash
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-10-07
Updated: 2013-10-07
Packaged: 2017-12-28 18:16:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,474
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/995010
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Yestoertchen/pseuds/Yestoertchen
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It isn't the first time Danny has looked at Stiles. But it feels like it's the first time he actually sees him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The perks of skipping practise (the coach would like to disagree)

**Author's Note:**

> So this was supposed to be a first kiss fic. But the characters didn't want to cooperate so I left them to their denial a little longer. Hence there will be other fics since I refuse to let them get the upper hand.
> 
> [I'm on tumblr](http://fuckingdeanandcastiel.tumblr.com/).

Danny wandered the halls of the school without a destination in mind. He was supposed to be on the lacrosse field, practise had started 20 minutes ago. Yet Danny couldn’t find the will to actually put on the gear and face Ethan, who had joined the team and who was actually pretty good. He more than likely would make first line once the season officially started; maybe even give Scott a run for his money for the captain position.

Their break-up had been messy and even though Danny was the one to end things it still hurt like hell. The thing was he didn’t really understand where it had all gone so terribly wrong. All he knew was that he couldn’t take all the lies anymore, the lies about why Ethan sometimes just disappears, the lies about his issues with Scott and Isaac (he didn’t buy for one second that Isaac beat him up because he was gay; he knew him and Isaac wasn’t a homophobe). Not that that particular group (Scott, Isaac, Allison, Stiles and weirdly enough Lydia) had plenty of secrets of its own but while they seemed hell bend on keeping him out of the loop, there seemed to be no malicious intent behind their secretiveness (and wasn’t that just a kick in the balls, that Danny could trust more in a group of which 3 people had at one point taken Jackson hostage rather than his boyfriend?).

Danny passed the library on his way to wherever his feet were taking him when he spotted Stiles. Stiles who should be at practise as well. Stiles who – if he put his mind to it – could make first line this year. Of all the people that made his (admittedly loose) circle of friends, Stiles had changed the most in the last few weeks. Not that he hadn’t been on edge since school started again (stressed to a point where Danny had been convinced he would snap sooner rather than later; and when had he started paying attention to that little hyperactive goofball that he had started noticing these things?), but recently he had seemed more resigned and exhausted rather than high strung. He wasn’t talking a mile a minute about random topics, in fact he wasn’t talking all that much at all.

Stiles sat at one of the tables, open book before him, staring into the distance. Danny contemplated whether to let him be, but curiosity got the better of him. Curiosity about what happened to Stiles and curiosity about what was so important, that even Stiles played it close to his chest when on any other topic you could read him like an open book. Danny sat down opposite him and Stiles didn’t even seem to notice. 

“Hey”, Danny kept his voice low (the library dude was a dragon and after last year more than a little wary of students even so much as touching his precious books) but even that seem to startle Stiles and Danny was a little unsettled to see fear, even terror flashing across that expressive face. 

“Hey, what’s up”, Stiles returned once he had processed that it was indeed Danny, who most likely wouldn’t rip his head off. Stiles’ inflection was all wrong, the tone flat, not even pretending to care about why Danny had sought him out. He didn’t even seem to be wary, since he must have expected that Danny would confront him about the events and Stiles’ group of merry mischief makers involvement in all this mess.

“Not much, skipping practice and it seems like I’m not the only one”, Danny said.

“Yeah, didn’t feel like getting yelled at by the coach. What’s your excuse?”, Stiles returned and maybe his tone was a little hostile (still better than the tone of “I’ve lost all ability to care”).

Danny shrugged. “Avoiding Ethan, I suppose.” He forced himself to say the name. Every time he said it out loud he wanted to wince as a little current of emotion (which he hadn’t had the strength to analyze deeper) ran through him.

“Oh.” Very astute, Stilinski, Danny thought a little amused at Stiles’ face, his mouth a little round ‘o’ and his eyes a little wider and more attentive than before. Oh indeed.

“I’m sorry you guys broke up”, Stiles said. And that’s something Danny didn’t expect to hear. Sure, Lydia had been very sympathetic (she had after all her own twin to deal with; Aiden was still pursuing her even though she had made it abundantly clear they were through; not even Stiles had ever been so thoroughly ignored by Lydia as Aiden was ignored now) and Scott had given him a tiny little smile that was clearly meant to say “hang in there, buddy”. But over all, everyone had just seemed to be relieved, Danny and Ethan were over, a reaction which still completely puzzled him.

But Stiles was genuine when he said he was sorry. He wasn’t relieved, he was just sad on Danny’s behalf. And wasn’t that an interesting concept, someone who didn’t show just sympathy along the lines of “we’ve all been there” and “chin up, dude”, but really cared that Danny was hurting. And of all the people it came from the person who seemed to be hurting more than all the teenage angst of Beacon Hills combined could provide. Stiles pain seemed to be rooted deeper than just the woes of teen romance or the stress of deciding on what to do with your life in a little more than a year. 

And Danny couldn’t figure it out. Couldn’t figure out what made it look like Stiles was standing at the edge of an abyss, ready to jump. Sure, horrible things had happened in the past year in Beacon Hills and for a time, everyone thought Stiles’ dad would be the next victim. But Sheriff Stilinski was alive and well and while no one really knew what happened (Danny suspected that “everyone” excluded Scott’s group), Stiles should be happy his dad was back when others weren’t so lucky.

Instead of voicing even one of the million questions he had, Danny just hummed looking at the book in front of Stiles. “That doesn’t look like something for school”, Danny commented. “Lydia been teaching you Latin?”

“Yeah, although she’s not really a patient teacher, so I’ve been mostly working with Google Translate”, Stiles answered, drumming one finger lightly on his phone next to the book.

Danny let out an amused huff. “That should produce interesting results.”

Stiles chuckled (chuckled! Danny wasn’t sure even Scott had been able to get that reaction from Stiles lately). “Unless the words ‘bowl chasing the sun and digesting city people’ make any sense to you, I’m afraid you’re right”.

Danny raised an eyebrow (which he had learned from the best and even though the asshole was busy fooling around in London his legacy of bitchfacing lived on), looking at the text which had an impressive drawing of some furry creature next to it. “Maybe you should actually sign up for a class. Doesn’t look like you can bullshit your way through this one, if you really want to know what that text says.”

It was Stiles’ turn to hum noncommittally. “I think we should get out of here before the coach hunts us down. And by ‘we’ I mean ‘you’ since you’re our only goalie and actually contribute something to the team.”

“Well considering you actually won us the last game last season I don’t think he would be too thrilled to find you skipping practise either.”

“Unless Greenburg starts spreading diseases again, I very much doubt this fluke in the cosmic balance of things will be repeated.”

“You never know. It’s Greenburg.” Danny said, like that explained everything. And by the way Stiles was grinning now, he supposed it did.

They got up and left the library as quietly as they could, so as not to disturb the library dragon (the book Stiles had been reading was conveniently piled under folders and other school books Stiles pressed to his chest, probably to avoid an enquiry of said dragon as to whether the dusty tome was actually a library book).

The school halls were blessedly empty since school had ended a while ago (only Finstock would be cold-hearted enough to make his team practise despite it being almost Christmas break). Stiles headed towards the parking lot and Danny followed (perfectly reasonable, he told himself, considering he had no car and the exit at the other end of the building was much closer if he wanted to get home). 

They got to Stiles' car, which was by all accounts a moving death trap where Danny was concerned (he wondered how the sheriff could allow his son to still drive the jeep; then again, Danny had seen how defensive Stiles got over his “baby” and he suspected the sheriff hadn’t had much choice in the matter). Stiles threw his books on the back seat and turned to Danny again. In broad daylight Danny could clearly see what the poor library light had obscured (and really, someone should do something about that, students were supposed to read there after all). Stiles literally looked like he hadn’t slept in days, if the dark circles under his eyes were any indication and he was so pale, his skin looked greyish. 

“Have I got something on my face?” Stiles asked and tried for a wry smile but even to Danny it was obvious how forced that smile looked.

“No” Danny answered and tried for a reassuring grin and judging by how Stiles seemed to relax a little it seemed he was at least a little successful. “Just wondering what happened there” Danny tapped on his temple where Stiles had a small scar which disappeared into his hairline.

“Oh nothing really, just a small accident I had during those freak storms back in October. At least I got an edgy looking scar out of it.”

Danny smiled again, that sounded more like the Stiles he knew. “Tried to drive your vehicle of doom through the storm, I imagine.”

“Something like that.” And just like that the mood had drifted again. Stiles’ shoulders seemed to sag a little and the easy smile which had seemed genuine moments before didn’t reach his eyes any longer. “I should probably go”, Stiles said although he sounded a little uncertain. “You know how it is, got video games to play and homework to do and probably dive into the darkest parts of the internet until 3 A.M.”

Stiles turned to his jeep, most likely to drive away without a backward glance. Danny grabbed him gently by the elbow. 

“Maybe you should try to get some rest, preferably some sleep as well.” And this was the first time Danny acknowledged the state Stiles was in. The first time he showed that he had noticed the change in his school mate (his friend?). And he wasn’t entirely sure that acknowledgement was welcomed, in fact Danny was pretty sure Stiles would tell him off in the next few moments and tell him to not stick his nose in other people’s business (and yeah that was hypocritical since this was _Stiles_ , but hey if Danny was struggling like Stiles was right now and wasn’t ready to talk about it, would he like to be confronted with his inner demons?).

But Stiles just sagged further, leaning against the jeep. “Yeah”, he mumbled and fuck, those eyes were suspiciously bright right now. Danny hadn’t wanted to make Stiles cry and he wasn’t entirely sure how to deal with that. Either he turned away so Stiles could compose himself and act like nothing happened. Or he could man up and deal with the grief of someone who seemed to be crumbling under it.

So Danny took hold of Stiles’ other elbow and steered him away from the jeep and into his arms, so they could hug out their feelings in a manly manner. Stiles seemed surprised and stiff at first but gradually relaxed and eventually returned the hug. Danny ignored the moisture against his shoulder and just held on tighter. 

They stood like this for a long time, Stiles sniffling suspiciously once or twice but eventually he let go of Danny and gave him watery smile. “Sorry to be so…” Stiles drifted off apparently not knowing how to explain his emotional state. Danny just returned the smile. 

“You don’t need to explain, Stiles.”

“I feel like I kinda do.”

Danny just shook his head and decided to change the subject (the last thing he wanted was to make Stiles feel pressured into confessing something he obviously wasn’t ready to deal with yet). “How about I drive you and your piece-of-crap jeep home? Don’t want you to crash because you fell asleep while driving.”

“My jeep is not a piece of crap.” Stiles returned with little heat (and okay if that’s what Stiles was focussing on, Danny was fine with that), but moved away from the driver’s side of the car and got in on the passengers side. Danny got in as well whilst desperately trying to remember how to drive a stick (Stiles would probably murder him if he wasn’t gentle to his precious).

Surprisingly the drive went smoothly and the silence between them felt comfortable. Once they stopped in front of Stiles’ house, Danny killed the engine and looked at Stiles. “Soooo… I’m prepared to bribe you with my chemistry homework, which I know you haven’t done yet, if all you do after I leave is get in the house, up the stairs and into bed.”

Stiles gave a startled laugh. “Well, Danny, you drive a hard bargain, but under the circumstances…” He drifted of and gave Danny a small but genuine grin.

They got out of the car (Stiles didn’t bother to collect his books from the back seat, a clear sign that yeah, he would hold Danny to his promise) and Stiles slowly made his way towards the house. Danny turned to make his way home as well (great he just drove three miles into the opposite direction) when Stiles turned towards him again.

“You know I have a mean lasagne á la Melissa McCall in the fridge, so if you like you could stay for dinner?”

Danny grinned (because that wasn’t the deal but when had Stiles had ever adhered to the rules without at least trying how hard he could push them?) and made his way towards the Stilinski house. “Yeah, I could eat.”

So they entered the dark house (the sheriff was still on duty it seemed) and maybe it was Danny’s imagination, but Stiles seemed like a burden had been ever so slightly lifted from him. And Danny felt like maybe his shoulders were a little lighter, too.

**Author's Note:**

> Honestly, the Teen Wolf timeline is so confusing. So let's just say 3x12 took place at the beginning of October (since there will be a Halloween episode for 3b that seems like a safe bet) and this fic takes place at the beginning of December.


End file.
